Continuing our tradition of splurging at a Japanese restaurant for my birthday, Stephen and I headed to Jugemu last November. We booked an early dinner reservation (new parent life) and enjoyed a lovely omakase meal at the sushi bar. I was incredibly saddened to hear that the restaurant would be closing their doors at the end of June. Chef Koji Tashiro’s presence will be missed and I look forward to his next venture.

Atmosphere: Jugemu was located in Cabbagetown under their popular sister restaurant Zakkushi. When we arrived only one other table was occupied by two Japanese ladies chatting and entertaining a newborn. I love seeing restaurants downtown that not only accommodate babies out of necessity but actually welcome them. Jugemu was roomy enough for a stroller to be parked by their table and quiet, without loud music, perfect for little eardrums. The dining room did begin to fill as dinner service began and all of the sushi bar seats were reserved.

Service: After settling into our seats, we were ready to order with just a quick glance at the menu. There was only one server that evening and she expertly took care of all the tables in addition to serving soup and prepping drinks. My sake arrived quickly and Chef Koji chatted with us as he prepared each piece of sushi. Throughout our meal, he was friendly but left us to our own conversation. At the end of the meal, I was ready to order an extra piece of Hokkaido uni but he recommended sticking to the Boston that was cheaper and comparable quality. I really appreciated the honesty.

Food: The one page menu at Jugemu had three sections, sushi, tapas and soup. Each section was simple with only a few options (just one soup). Stephen and I both ordered the the ultimate 12 piece omakase, $70, and a bowl of the Fish Stock Red Miso Soup. The soup was rich and savoury with lots of fish bones, very reminiscent of the miso soup from Sushi Dai in Tsukiji market! There wasn’t any hint of fishiness, just amazing flavour.

The omakase began with an octopus salad that had a light soy based vinaigrette. The texture of the octopus was chewy but tender and there was just a touch of heat. Our 12 pieces that night included unique fish like Japanese barracuda and staples like scallop and chutoro. I liked both the marinated horse mackerel and cured mackerel, both were flavourful and fresh. My favourite course was the uni and ikura, served on a small bowl of rice. The two were a perfect combination of contrasting textures and flavour. The creamy richness of the uni was accented by aach salty pop of ikura. Other highlights of the night for me were the spot prawn and king crab with crab liver. Not pictured was the tuna handroll, simple and satisfying. I was disappointed that we missed out on shirako (cod sperm), which had been served in previous weeks, and the lack of otoro.

Overall, the omakase dinner at Jugemu was a delicious and lovely experience. As always, Stephen and I enjoyed watching each piece of sushi come together and the quiet, serene atmosphere. I’ve been recommending Jugemu to friends and family all year, they really will be missed.

Kingyo is a popular east-end Japanese izakaya with west coast origins. During February Kingyo ran their own Kingyolicious event featuring a 3 course meal for $30 or a 4 course meal for $35. Diners had a choice of two dishes for each course and the menu was themed seafood and land. I was lucky enough to win an Instagram contest run by pekopekolife for two set meals, a perfect date night for myself and The Hubby.

Disclaimer: All food and drinks reviewed below were provided complimentary. All opinions expressed below are wholly mine.

Atmosphere: Walking into Kingyo, I felt like I had found a secret club. Located on a quiet street, behind an unsuspecting wooden door, was a lively space filled with cheers, music and conversation. My eyes were drawn to the shiny pachinko machines that decorated the walls and the old school Japanese movie that was projected on the wall behind the bar. Every seat in the restaurant was taken and a queue of diners filled the entryway.

Service: A few servers circulated our section of the restaurant and it was easy to get someone’s attention for service. Our tea and water were refilled throughout the night and each course arrived in quick succession without any overlap. In general, I found the service at Kingyo friendly and efficient.

Food: With two options for each course, The Hubby and I simply ordered one of each. Seafood themed for me, Land themed for him with bites shared of course. My appetizer was the Seafood Kingyo Shooter with scallop, salmon, tuna, uni, tobiko, quail egg and a host of other ingredients on sushi rice. Colourful in presentation and with a wonderful variety of textures and flavours. Stirred all together, each spoonful was full of umami. The Hubby’s starter was slices of grilled, pork belly that was tender and well seasoned. I would’ve liked the pork belly crispier and the fat rendered more, but still a tasty, meaty dish. Seafood won the first round.

For entrees, mine was a sizzling plate of buttery seafood that included shrimp and scallop served with cod roe toasts. i did like the salty, buttery sauce but The Hubby’s lamb chop cutlets were killer. The two breaded and fried chops were gamey, so tender, so juicy and so good. Round two easily went to Land.

The third round was strong for both themes. My dish was an ikura don, to be assembled at the table in a martini glass. I love ikura and a generous portion of the salty balls of goodness was included. The Hubby’s dish was a Yukke Don. A plate of beef tartare was served with a quail egg and could be eaten as is, or mixed into the hot stone bowl filled with rice, green onion, kelp and pickled vegetables. The tartare was well seasoned and once mixed into the rice bowl, created a well balanced dish that was savoury and filling with hints of acidity and sweetness. Round three was a tie.

Dessert was a Japanese Tofu Tiramisu, perfect for The Hubby who’s lactose sensitive. A base of soft matcha cake was covered in a thick layer of creamy tofu and topped with matcha powder. I found the top layer of matcha powder a touch bitter but was impressed with the texture of the tofu.

Overall, Kingyolicious was a delicious snapshot of the food available at Kingyo. This meal makes me eager to return to explore their regular menu and I would also love to see some of the special dishes reappear (seafood shooter!). A few more visits like this one and I can see Kingyo becoming my favourite izakaya in town.

My first summerlicious stop this year was dinner at Ganzi Osteria. I had heard great reviews on twitterverse about the restaurant and liked the options of their set menu. I do temper my expectations during summerlicious to account for a set menu, rushed service and sometimes pre-prepared plates, but I still believe the meal to be reflective of how the restaurant operates normally.

Atmosphere: Ganzi Osteria is situated inside a beautiful, red brick, mansion with a spacious paved patio surrounded by hedges. There is more space on the patio than inside the house itself. It was a warm day so we started out on the patio but had to move inside when it started to rain. The interior of the mansion was well preserved, doors had been removed to create a more open concept and marble tables were spread out. Dark woodwork and elaborate chandeliers mixed with bright contemporary artwork in each room.

Service: For the most part service was professional and efficient. When the skies began to darken outside, our server asked if we’d like to move inside. When we agreed, he went off to find us a table but we didn’t see him again before it started to rain. This left us scrambling to move our plates, wine and cutlery inside ourselves. It was a bit of a mad dash to not have a sopping wet steak. Had there been umbrellas outside or any kind of cover, I would’ve happily waited out the droplets, but as is, my dinner was getting wet. We were quickly settled at a table inside and once our server found us again, service returned to normal. The space is versatile and would be lovely for a private event, large group or romantic dinner.

Food: In general, while I liked all of my dishes, nothing stood out or wowed. For appetizers, I ordered the Grilled Scallops while my friend had the Leek and Potato soup. We were both expecting a creamy soup rather than broth based. The flavours were savoury and rich but I wasn’t sure if I liked the chunks of goat cheese, which overpowered the rest of the dish. My scallops were good, buttery and served with a splash of balsamic reduction.

I was trying to avoid carbs that day (needed to fit into a dress that weekend) so I went with the Steak Tagliata, cooked medium rare, for my main. The steak itself was cooked to my order and the portion size was very generous. I wasn’t a huge fan of the gravy and could’ve done without it. The roasted local vegetables were delicious, fresh and naturally sweet. My friend had the Tilapia Marinara and was also content with her dish. Both of us chose the tiramisu for dessert. The cake was just the right amount of coffee, chocolate and cream, topped with a fresh raspberry.

For the $25 price tag, dinner at Ganzi was a great deal. Looking at tables around us, if I hadn’t been avoiding carbs I would’ve ordered the pizza or penne dishes, both of which looked amazing. Clearly, I need to re-visit Ganzi when I can enjoy a big bowl of pasta.

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Zakkushi is another new Toronto restaurant with origins from the West coast specializing in yakitori (different meats/veggies skewers grilled on a Japanese Charcoal).  We rounded up a group of people to visit, thus maximizing the number of dishes that could be sampled.

Atmosphere: Inside the restaurant, it felt very much like eating at a food stall or market in Japan. There were many large booths, and the energy and volume was high. Servers rushed around and the smell of fresh grilled meat wafted through the dining area. With the help of their high ceilings, the room wasn’t smoky at all. It was a great mood for beer and loud conversations.

Service: Food arrived quickly. With the high number of menu items, the server punches in the order and hangs a print out next to each table. We were able to easily keep track of what dishes we’d tried and what was still to come. Everything felt efficient and we were always able to flag down someone as required.

Food: We ordered a lot of food, plus two pitchers of beer (split between six people) and a $60 bottle of sake (split between three people). So although our bill came up to ~$60/person the meal was well worth the cost and a great price.

For appetizers, we tried the appetizer sampler of takowasabi, marinated cucumbers and goma-ae (spinach with sesame sauce) and a full order of shiokara (marinated squid with special sauce). All of the dishes were pretty standard except for the shiokara which split our table in like or strongly dislike. I enjoyed the dish, but it is very salty and very fishy, so beware.

As each skewer arrived, it was disassembled to allow everyone to have a bite. Since we pretty much ordered every type of skewer, I’ll just highlight my favourite ones of the night. The p-toro (crunchy and juicy pork) and kawa (chicken skin) are must tries, both were grilled to a crisp and juicy. I also really liked the chicken gizzard, which was tender and a great chewy texture. None of the beef or vegetable yakitori really stood out for me in terms of flavour. I would start with ordering the Zakkushi set, which comes with 5 types of skewers covering each meat group.

On top of skewers, we also tried the takoyaki, daikon salad, ankimo (monkfish liver), beef tataki, chicken karage,  grilled mackerel, marinated mackerel and nama harumaki (salad roll). The daikon salad was great, very refreshing. The thin slices of daikon were paired with a savoury dressing. We also liked the ankimo and salad roll enough to order seconds. These were both cold dishes, and again very refreshing in contrast to all the grilled meat. The ankimo was a surprise hit at the table, with a spreadable texture and not overly fishy taste. The grilled mackerel was slightly disappointing being under seasoned, while the marinated mackerel had a great acidity and firmness. The chicken karaage was very tender and juicy on the inside with a good crispy batter shell.

Then there was still room for dessert. We ordered three of the four available options to split at the table. The kinako mochi ice cream (vanilla ice cream with mochi and maple syrup), dorayaki matcha ice cream (green tea ice cream with red bean in a Japanese pancake) and kuro goma ice cream (homemade black sesame ice cream). All of the desserts were amazing, sweet but not over the top, rich and creamy. My favourite was the black sesame followed closely by the vanilla mochi.

Phew, I did say we ordered a lot of food! I had a great time at Zakkushi, the variety and breadth of the menu with so many dishes being outstanding will have me coming back for sure.